Trey Grayson: Exporting the fraudit to Pa. would be disaster

In July, Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano announced his intention to bring the Arizona audit to Pennsylvania. County officials have rebuffed his requests for election data, and Mastriano is threatening subpoenas to fuel the investigation. This is going to be a mess.

Strange circumstances aside, a Pennsylvania audit is a disaster in the making. If Mastriano is successful, his review will harm election integrity and undermine confidence in our electoral system. For evidence, look no further than the Arizona “audit” debacle.

Aside from being rooted in the lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 election, the Arizona audit has been a technical nightmare on multiple levels. As a former two-term Kentucky Secretary of State, I know firsthand how elections are run. Along with my co-author, University of Wisconsin professor Barry Burden, I recently conducted an independent evaluation of the Arizona audit and found multiple key failures by the contractor, Cyber Ninjas. The firm and its subcontractors failed four major criteria that are the bedrock of safe and fair election reviews.

First, Cyber Ninjas obtained the contract from the Arizona Senate under strange and murky pretenses. Cyber Ninjas never formally submitted a bid for the election review contract while seriously lowballing the cost. Despite having almost no experience in such projects, Cyber Ninjas received a high-stakes project and was subject to no direct oversight from the Arizona Senate.

To make matters worse, Cyber Ninjas and its merry band of misfit subcontractors have failed to meet basic transparency standards throughout the review process. The company has missed major deadlines, and what was supposed to be a two-month audit has been continually delayed, with a final report expected within weeks . To make matters worse, Cyber Ninjas employees must sign nondisclosure agreements, further hampering the public’s ability to understand the inner workings of the review.

The sham audit has failed the basic criterion of fairness and impartiality. CEO Doug Logan has a track record of spreading bogus claims that Trump won the 2020 election and advocated that members of Congress object to certifying the electoral votes from various states. Cyber Ninjas and its subcontractors even hired extremely partisan employees like Anthony Kern, who was photographed outside the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Finally, Cyber Ninjas and its subcontractors have what could be generously called a competence problem. This is not surprising given the fact company leadership failed to provide adequate training for staff in preparation for the Maricopa County review. This led to some ballot inspectors using incorrect color pens to mark ballots, which disrupts the tabulation process and adds yet another complication and delay to the review. Further, the company’s statistics and claims have been repeatedly debunked — including by my report.

At this stage of the review, Logan and his employees are desperately peddling inane theories. In June, for instance, a subcontractor affiliate based in Montana falsely accused Maricopa County of wiping voter records. Cyber Ninjas subcontractor and CyFIR CEO Ben Cotton then sent secure data over state lines with no explanation. Cotton has also jeopardized the integrity of the ballots, failing to keep his promises to secure the ballot storage facility. Local journalists managed to penetrate the facility by simply walking in. They were not stopped by any security personnel and roamed freely on the main floor within arm’s length of ballots and voting equipment.

All the while, Cyber Ninjas have compromised secure voting machines, forcing the county to bankroll a $2.8 million purchase of new systems.

The security of our elections is the bedrock of our democracy. It is understandable that Americans are concerned about safety and integrity when it comes to choosing our representatives and our president. But these concerns cannot let us be so naive that we allow ourselves to be defrauded by amateurs and grifters.

I am proud to have administered multiple safe and fair elections in the state of Kentucky. It is critical that Pennsylvanians see the Arizona fiasco for what it is: a sham. If it comes to Pennsylvania, it will be a waste of time, energy and taxpayer money. And it will leave our elections less secure and our country worse off.